In a bizarre turn yesterday, 11 July 2009, the Kurdistan Regional Government’s minister of Defence and Peshmerga affairs, Shiekh Jaffar Shekh Mustafa, personally attacked unarmed civilians, assaulted reporters and vandalised numerous cars in Sulaimaniyah’s Tooymalik Avenue.
As with all nights since the election campaign began, civilians in Sulaimaniyah city turned the streets of Iraqi Kurdistan’s biggest city blue with the navy flags of the movement for change.
However under the personal command of Sheikh Jaffar, Tooymalik avenue was closed of by the security forces and Sheikh Jaffar’s own personal bodyguard contingent at 9pm.
After closing the road and trapping the supporters of the movement for change in the narrow road. Sheikh Jaffar and his men then proceeded to vandalise the windscreens and tyres of the cars baring the flag of the movement for changes. It is reported that Shiekh Jaffar ordered his men to “kick every Gorran supporter” and he personally attacked children in the road who had Gorran flags attached to their bicycles.
When a news crew from KNN TV arrived to film the ministers behaviour, the security forces turned on the cameraman, destroying his camera, confiscating the tapes of the incident and using tazers on the cameraman himself.
The KNN news crew were only saved when some of the regions riot police force turned against the ministers armed retinue and intervened to help the cameraman escape. An officer in the riot police has reported that Sheikh Jaffar gave the order to “set fire to the Gorran supporters in their cars”. One source reports that a policeman who refused to attack civilians was personally assaulted by Shiekh Jaffar and is now recovering in hospital.
Shiekh Jaffars attack continued into the small hours of the morning when he abandoned the scene fearing that footage of his behaviour would be captured.
Shiekh Jaffar has made no comment on the incident as of now.
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